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Stocks Rise After Debt-Ceiling Deal

Written by: Andrea Tse 01/23/13 - 4:58 PM EST
Tickers in this article: AAPL COH CREE DELL GOOG IBM LCC MCD MSFT RIMM UTX ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Major U.S. stock averages advanced Wednesday, helped by upbeat earnings from high-profile companies and a debt-ceiling deal.

Apple(AAPL) shares jumped 1.8% to $514 ahead of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. After the stock market closed, the tech giant said profit was $13.81 a share, beating analysts' estimates of $13.53 a share, while revenue was $54.5 billion, trailing estimates of $54.9 billion. The shares subsequently tumbled, trading as low as $485.

United Technologies(UTX) edged up 0.7% after the industrial giant's earnings Wednesday. Google(GOOG) shares jumped 5.5% and IBM (IBM) shares popped 4.4% after their fourth-quarter reports Tuesday evening.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67 points, or 0.5%, to 13,779. The blue-chip index climbed for the ninth session out of 10, a streak last seen in February 2011.

Breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering winners 17 to 12. Coca-Cola (KO) finished unchanged. Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) , Merck(MRK) , Cisco(CSCO) and Caterpillar(CAT) shares were declining the most.

McDonald's(MCD) shares were up 0.6% after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.38 a share on revenue of $6.95 billion, topping the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.33 a share on revenue of $6.89 billion as the company focused on offering affordable menu options. For the near-term, the restaurant chain expects revenue and profit growth to remain pressured, with January's global comparable sales expected to be negative.

The top percentage blue-chip winners were IBM, Microsoft(MSFT) and Walt Disney(DIS) .

IBM topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates, boosted by strength in its software business.

United Technologies posted fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday of $1.04 a share on revenue of $16.4 billion, versus the average analyst expectation of earnings of $1.03 a share on revenue of $16.63 billion. The company reaffirmed its 2013 earnings per share outlook of $5.85 to $6.15 a share, saying that it was seeing improvements in order trends.